Autocar reports that Honda is fast-tracking an upgrade to the its Insight “dedicated hybrid,” which debuted this year to mixed reviews. After much hype, Honda’s derivative hatch is off to a weak start in the US and falling behind in Japan (where it now sells worse than the Fit). But don’t expect the Prius Lite to go from “biblically terrible” to “Clarksonian.” Catching up with 3rd-gen Prius efficiency levels and sorting the low-speed ride quality are said to be the areas of focus. While I’d agree that the latter needs improvement, you know that when even Consumer Reports cries for more power, boosting efficiency alone probably isn’t the answer.
All I ask for in an Insight upgrade is for the thing to leave me feeling something. Anything. Within five minutes of driving one a few months back, I’d forgotten any impressions it may have made on me. People have felt less empty after paying for sex. On behalf of car writers everywhere, I beg you, Honda, give the Insight something worth scribbling about!
Yeah, I’m a little shocked at Honda’s effort (or lack thereof) with this one. I can’t quite figure out why they didn’t just go back to the formula of the original. I understand that they’re trying to go head to head with the Prius, therefore they wanted a back seat, but the bottom line is that Honda’s IMA doesn’t work as well as Toyota’s HSD. Honda is better off playing their own game with the Civic Hybrid, and going back to the commuter style Insight, IMO. Obviously they’ve spent too much on the new Insight to drop it. What a shame that it’s so far away from what everyone expected.
The Insight is a fit hybrid when you compare them regarding space, versatility etc.
And so it is $ 5,000 more expensive and has 41 mpg as opposed to 30 mpg.
not sure if there is a payback.. but the Insight also has automatic climate control, remote key lock, vehicle stability control and some other things the Fit doesn’t have. So I suppose it has some merits despite having worse-than-Prius mileage.
On the other hand the Prius only costs $ 2,000 more at better mileage and size.
I wonder if my bicycle fits in the Insight when I fold down the rear seats. I have a Mazda 3 5-door and ride the last few miles to work downtown to save parking fee ($ 1,400 annually!!!). so, being able to put in my bicycle in one piece is crucial.
What I don’t get is that Honda seems to be falling on it’s proverbial hybrid sword regarding the Insight and seems to ignore, promotional and marketing wise, the far superior Civic Hybrid.
Better highway mileage than the Prius, doesn’t look like a hybrid, rides better, etc.
to me the Civic is out of the shopping list for not being a hatchback.
Can I take the Civic to home Depot and get some bulky things or can it take my bicycle? No!
complete different vehicle category imo. to me Mazda 3, Insight, Fit, Prius at least have similar everyday use capabilities (of course, besides completely different mileages and sportiness)
doesn’t look like a hybrid
I absolutely swear, that is part of what kills the Civic Hybrid with some people. There are people out there that want their car to be immediately recognized as different. The Civic is not any different visually to most people once you get past the badge. If it were me, I’d buy the Civic Hybrid over the Prius all day long, and I’d probably even pop all the badges off. I think many hybrid buyers aren’t like that though.
I absolutely swear, that is part of what kills the Civic Hybrid with some people.
That, and the 14-second 0-60 time.
We have one civic Hybrid at work and it drives OK. not a sports car, but definitely powerful enough to get on highways.
We also have Fits. Drive similarly well.
when you see the mileage gauge you drive more consciously anyway (which probably is good for not getting speeding tickets and is safer). Someone who has a lead foot wouldn’t buy a hybrid either way.
“Civic hybrid…better highway mileage than the Prius”
Not true.
A car company releases a car, gets negative feedback and then decides to change the car?
GM could learn a thing or two from Honda…
People have felt less empty after paying for sex
Wow. That’s why I come here for my auto-news fix, it’s like reading Car and Driver back when they still cared about being considered a great magazine, not just another car mag.
Lw you think??
Holden is GM, GM is Holden
C.O. Sydney Morning Herald
Holden has introduced a running change to the automatic transmission on its Cruze small car just weeks after launching the vital new model. (By the way GM engineers did the calibration adjustment in N.A.)
The company said the change, which is designed to make gear shifts smoother under hard acceleration and when the engine is cold, was made in response to internal evaluation of the car by Holden engineers, rather than any customer complaints.
The 64 dollar question on the insight is why they released it as is instead of fixing its sloppyness before it was released????? This is OK for Honda??
I’m really disappointed with the new Insight. Honda needs to build class leading vehicles, not almost good enough also-rans which sell at a discount to the leader.
We have to clarify here that Honda’s hybrid system is less expensive than Toyota’s hybrid system. This also equates to less efficiency. If Honda dropped the price another $1k to really put it at a much lower MSRP than the 3g Prius and the cheapened 2g Prius Honda would have at least that in its favor. It was bringing hybrid technology to the masses and down to prices that equate with non hybrid powertrains.
In the end gas hybrids are not the answer and never have been. It’s been clean diesels that get similar mileage as hybrids with only a $1k premium over a standard gas engine than $3k. Plus in the end there will be no $1k price to replace the batteries or a need to recycle the old ones. If Honda brought over it’s brilliant 2.2 liter diesel from Europe with it’s trick cat converter that doesn’t need to use a separate tank of ammonia to balance Nox emissions – Honda would have a trump card. Put that engine in the TSX, Accord, CRV, even in the Civic and they’d have a class to their own. The drawback is that it will only be available with a manual tranny at first. One pretty quick and cheap way to create a unique powertrain…is a mild hybrid system attached to an efficient diesel system…one that shuts off the engine at stoplights and has battery powered a/c so that all systems work even when the engine is no longer working. Add cylinder shut off for when there is little load on the engine and Honda already has variable turbos that can limit its drag when the power is not needed.
Looks like Honda lost sight of its basic premise of anticipating the market and beating its competition to niches. Honda is no longer the small and nimble company it was and has lost it’s edge. Honda needs to get its mojo back!
Honda can improve this car – and the company – by putting a boot up the backside of whatever pack of bean counters hustled this POS out of a budgeting meeting and into the showroom. Toyota isn’t the only company that needs a good housecleaning.
I remember when I first chanced upon a 2009 Accord. As I eyed the 100% derivitive styling, I thought, “If this is what Honda has come to, the market doesn’t need Honda for anything.” One design success: the characterless dashboard inside suits the exterior perfectly.
Honda is still riding on the reputation of old. It doesn’t excuse them from making boring cars that fall short of expectations.
Hyundai might come out with a hybrid and make this a true 3 way race. It’s definately within their capabilities since they are a large conglomerate with interests that range from ship building to microchips.
In Japan Honda is still #3 behind Nissan and Toyota. They are never going to be #2 until they learn to react faster in the market. GM and Cry-sler were guilty of slow reaction to market trends and it helped kill them.
Three things that strike me about this:
1) This Insight iteration seemed fast tracked and as a result…
2) Honda decided that it wouldn’t be marketed as a Prius competitor per se, but a cheaper alternative with less mileage gains even though…
3) EVERYONE compares it with the Prius.
Not surprised at the lackluster sales…
2010 Insight doesn’t meet minimum SULEV efficiency targets, so isn’t eligible for CleanPass and HOV access. As a result, can’t even consider it.
The first gen Insight was definitely unique looking, but the lines flowed well and it looked like a typical low-cowl Honda.
This new Insight is just not a nice looking car. The gen3 Prius looks so much nicer. And gets better fuel economy.
What is it with Honda nowadays? The ugly Acura TL and TSX, the huge Accord, and now this thing? I used to get excited about upcoming new Honda models. Lately, my first reaction is to cringe.
That, and the 14-second 0-60 time.
And the trunk that rivals a Solstice in it’s uselessness. And the fact that it costs about as much as Prius while being far, far less capable.
The Insight would probably benefit from a price cut, if nothing else. It’s foibles would be easier to swallow if the EX was about where the base was, and the base started right on top of the Fit Sport. The problem that this poses for Honda is that the (much more costly) Insight will kill Civic sales.
Toyota doesn’t have this problem because they positioned the Prius very obliquely in relation to the rest of their lineup. It’s between the Corolla and Camry in size and more or less tracking the Camry in content—but it’s so unlike the Camry that it doesn’t steal sales and so above the Matrix in price and features (unless you buy the Xrs Frou-Frou Edition) that it’s distinct there. They did a good job placing the car.
Honda might have done well to simply offer the Insight as a top-trim Fit instead of as a distinct model. There’s nothing wrong with a cheap hybrid that’s indistinguishable from a normal model, but it still needs to be useful. The Fit has cargo space to spare and a look that works for green buyers; the Civic and Accord hybrids were marketing missteps for all sorts of reasons.
This new Insight is just not a nice looking car. The gen3 Prius looks so much nicer.
The “looks nicer” is just detailing. Toyota is hardly the master of this, but Honda is actually, truly, quite bad at it.
What is it with Honda nowadays? The ugly Acura TL and TSX, the huge Accord, and now this thing? I used to get excited about upcoming new Honda models. Lately, my first reaction is to cringe.
Hondas are rarely pretty. People tend to focus on their few winners (the NSX, the Legend, the 94-97 and 98-03 Accord, 92-95 Civic, the first TSX) and ignore, say, every Prelude (especially the last one), most Accords, quite a few Civics and every trucklet they’ve ever made.
Making a universally attractive car consistently year-over-year is actually quite hard. Audi is probably the only mass-market nameplate that has done it; Honda is one of the worst when it comes to making a strikingly attractive car. Like BMW, they tend to do better when they stick to being functional because when they try to embellish or experiment, the results are hideous (again, like BMW)
Why the hate for the Prelude, psar? I see last-gen Preludes all the time and am amazed at how good they look for their age. I admit the headlight design can be a little polarizing, but it is not an ugly car.
I don’t know, the Euro-Spec Civic 3-Door is quite the attractive vehicle. The US Civics (even the SI) are Boring To The Max.
Even the Insight seems to adhere to the “Gotta be cheap and derivative small car to sell in America.”
I believe that paradigm has shifted…
Why the hate for the Prelude, psar? I see last-gen Preludes all the time and am amazed at how good they look for their age. I admit the headlight design can be a little polarizing, but it is not an ugly car.
I don’t hate the car, I just acknowledge that it’s a weird looking piece of work. Remember, you’re talking to a guy who has a thing for the Suzuki X-90.
Ugly is perhaps the wrong word; bizarre might be more apt and “like a superdeformed version of the first-gen Mercedes SLK made real” might be the most accurate.
In the end gas hybrids are not the answer and never have been. It’s been clean diesels that get similar mileage as hybrids with only a $1k premium over a standard gas engine than $3k.
And every time one of these magical diesels actually gets tested over here by the EPA, it falls way short of the Prius, even in a smaller package (Jetta TDI). Try again, FUDder.
I am so sorry to hear what a piece of crap the insight is.
Honda is My favorite brand… owned several of them, and I knew there was something wrong with them in 2001. The 2001 civic debuted without the multi-link suspension. The strut was back… hmm …
It was a sign of things to come. The Accord got bigger and bigger, the civic did too and then the ugly as hell Fit came to “rescue” the sub-compact genre for Honda… damn.
No this Insight. Clarkson had it right when he mentioned the FCX Clarity as the real savior.
As for an earlier comment, I agree that this website has taken over much of what i loved about Car and Driver. I subscribed from Feb 1991 (age 13) to Sept. 2008. Then my subscription ran out and I haven’t been in a hurry to re-new. It is still the best mag out there, but the venom it would once spew at lousy cars has all but dried up. oh, and if BMW built it it HAS to be good, no matter what.
As for diesels…meh. Skip the oil burner and move onto the Hydrogen fuel cell. Now if it was only cheaper to get hydrogen… we need a sun harvester, like in Revenge of the Fallen.
jaje: “If Honda brought over it’s brilliant 2.2 liter diesel from Europe with it’s trick cat converter that doesn’t need to use a separate tank of ammonia to balance Nox emissions – Honda would have a trump card.”
But California doesn’t like diesels, and what Californial dislikes the US can’t have.
But California doesn’t like diesels
Yes, we do.
what Californial dislikes the US can’t have
Huh? VW, Audi, et al. sell 50-state diesels. (See today’s review of the Q7.) If Honda decides not to sell their diesel here, that’s not because of CARB.
What about the other CARB states? Did CA force them to adopt the CARB standards and thus ruin it for Honda? No.
At this point, if they did go back to building 5th-gen Preludes, they would improve their lineup. Honda thesedays is depressing. Most Accords from the mid-1980s onwards were NOT bad-looking or performing cars. They simply took the model name and made a completely different/larger car, instead of introducing an Avalon or Maxima type large sedan.
I expect more from Honda. I suppose an inexpensive hybrid hatchback is what some people want, but so far the Insight is a disappointment. Of course, the FCX Clarity isn’t widely available yet. In general, the industry is in a holding pattern/waiting game and Honda is part of it.
Still, if you buy a Honda today, you’re only somewhat better off than if you picked up a recent Hyundai or Nissan. Compare that to not many years ago, when the Honda was an obvious winning choice.